Improvement in casting car-wheels



3 Sheets--Sheet l. K. SAX. Casting Car-Wheels.

Patented June 16,1874.

Illll WJ Tlv-5555.

@Sheets-Sheet 3,

l. K. SAX. Casting Car-Wheels.

Patented June 16v, 1874-.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN K. SAX, OF PITTSTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CASTING CAR-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,0l1, dated J une 16, 1874; application filed Y April 15, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN K. SAX, of Pittston, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful improvements in the Manufacture of Railway-Car Vheels and Molds therefor, of which the following is a specication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top view of the flask and mold made use of. Fi 2 is a side view or elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the same in vertical cross-section through the plane indicated by the dotted line a' a'. Fig. 4 is a View in vertical central cross-section of the metallic band made use of to keep separate the two kinds or qualities of metal of which the wheel is made while they are being cast. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the flask and mold (shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3) in central vertical transverse section through the plane indicated by the dotted line x' m in Fig. l. Fig. 6 is a top or plan view of the lower part or drag of the flask. Fig. 7 is a vertical sectiona-l view of a part of the drag (shown in Fig. 6) on the line :r2 m2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. Fig. Sis a top view of the lifting-frame, by means of which the band (shown in Fig. 4) is held in the matrix of the mold, and lifted therefrom at t-he proper time. Fig. 9 is a top view of the central cap of the ask. Fig. l0 is a view of the saine in vertical cross-section on the line x3 x3. Fig. 11 is a top view of the exterior cap-ring of the iiask.

This invention consists in a process for producing a railway car or locomotive wheel, having a body or center of one kind or quality of metal-as tough cast-iron--and a tread or tire of another kind or quality of metal-as steel or hard cast iron-both metals being cast into the same mold at the same time, and left in direct conta-ct to cool and amalgamate.

Theletter a indicates the bottom board, upon which the mold and flask sit, b, the lower part or drag of the flask, and b the exterior cap of the llask, which Iwill call the bodyri11g,77 ttin g to the drag by dowel-pins b4, as is usual. The dra g Z) has, or well may have, radial arms or spokes L5, preferably three in number, which run to a central ring, be, their upper outline conforming to the contour of that side of the wheel which is undermost, but these spokes do not touch the wheel when itis cast. The letter c in dieates the molding-sand in the drag. Each of the spokes b5 has a round pillar, 117, projecting upward, its top just even with the upper face ofv the wheel that is to be cast in the mold, such pillars running through corresponding holes in the plate of the wheel, and each surrounded with molding -sand appertaining to the sand in the drag. Startingfrom under the bottom of each of the spokes b, a bolt, d, headed at the bottom, runs up through each of the pillars If', and thence to the level of the iop of the flask, or just a little above that level, to serve as guides and connections for the central-cap portion of the ask, as will be hereinafter described.

The body-ring b has numerous flukes or wings bf, extending inward, and conforming to the contour of the tread of the wheel, but not touching it. The letter c indicates the sand pertaining to this body-ring. The central capof the llask is composed of the central ring c, the radial arms el, the cross-dukes e2, and the shorter radial arms c3. The lower outline of the whole central cap conforms to the contour of the upper face 0f the wheel, but does not touch it. This central cap rests upon the pillars 117 by means of the pillar-points b4, corresponding to the pillars D7. The central cap is guided to its place by the bolt rods d, running up, through the enlargements e, to the top of the cap; and the central cap and drag are held together, when the casting is made, by the nuts d1 on the upper ends of the bolts d.. The letter c2 indicates the sand pertaining to the central cap.

It will be observed that there is an annular opening, s, all around the mold between the sand pertaining to the body-rin g and the sand pertaining to the central cap.

The letter m indicates the core for forming the hole in the hub of the'wheel, for the reception of the axle. The letter n indicates the space in the matrix of the mold for the reception of the metal of which the body of thc wheel is to he cast, which metal may well be poured through the sprues n a', which sprues may be located at any desirable and suitable points within the band o.

The letter indicates the space in the matrix oi' the mold to be filled with the metal that lorms the tread ot' the wheel, and which is, by preference, poured through the sprues 'il il, communicating at the bottom with a runnen channel, i2, scooped out in the surface of the sand pertaining to the drag, and running entirely around the mold, from which runnerchannel numerous small sprues f5.3 enter the matrix ofthe mold outside the band 0.

The band o may be made ot' iron or steelpossibly ot' some other material; and may eX- tend from the bottom ot' the matrix to the top, or to the point indicated in the drawings, or to any other desired and suitable height. The band 0 is introduced into the mold through the annular opening s, and is suspended by means ot' the rods 01 which are fastened into the litting-i'rame, which is composed of the ring 02,' the arms o, and the guides 04, titting upon the outside ot' the body-ring b1. On the inside of the ring o2 are mortised lugs o5, having setscrews o running into the mortises, by means of which set-screws the rods 01 are fastened to 'the lifting-frame. I pret'er to form the body n is ready for the casting.

rIhe metal for the body and the metal for the tread are both poured at or about the same time, and in case the band 0 does not extend to the top ot the matrix, the pouring of the `metal for the tread ceases when the metal arrives at the top of the band.

rIhe rise of the metal 011 both sides of the band can be readily seen through the opening s. The metal may be poured until the opening s is illed so as to form a head for the metal in the wheel.

Before the two metals solidify the band o may be removed 'by raising np the lifting frame, leaving the two metals in direct contact, so that they will intimately mix, amalgamate, and Weld together. It' a head is allowed to form in the opening s, that is cut ott' afterward.

The wheel represented is what is known as a plate-wheel, and needs to have holes through it for the pillar-supports 117. In casting a spokewheel these supports run between the spokes.

This process and apparatus is as readily applicable to the production of a locomotive driving-Wheel as to the making of a carwheel.

So far as the mold described and the product ot' this process are concerned, both are reserved for subject-matter of other Letters Patent.

I claim as my invention- The process of casting the body of a car or engine wheel of one kind or quality of metal, as soft cast-iron, and the tread or tire of another kind or quality of metal, as hard castiron or steel, in the same mold, and at the same time, by means of an annular band interposed within the mold between the two metals, which band is afterward withdrawn, so as to leave the two metals While still fused in immediate contact, so that they will Well weld or fuse together, the same being done substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN K. SAX.

Witnesses: l

WM. ED. SIMONDs, JOHN PoLLITT. 

